Enchanted Night

Steven Millhauser, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Martin Dressler, creates a magical spell of the moon in this beguiling short work. It’s fascinating visions make Enchanted Night a symphony of light and shadow. One hot summer night, as the full moon rises over a small Connecticut town, people are pulled outside by its radiant force. A 14-year-old girl throws her bedclothes aside. An aspiring author leaves his attic room. A gang of masked young women roam the streets. Supernatural creatures come to life: the mannequin in a store window, dolls forgotten in a corner, goat-footed Pan in the forest. Following the moon as it shines on the town, Enchanted Night is laced with choruses of night sounds. Narrator Linda Stephens captures the voice of each character and the rhythms of each chapter. Original and inventive, this book is a luminous delight.